Caving to the Pressure
by Tauntingly Haunted
Summary: Tony Stark is not who he appears to be. Tony is actually Toni, 18 year old female genius. When she is called to the Avengers, will her secret be revealed? Can she get past what happened in those caves in Afghanistan? Will she be able to help Bruce accept himself while she has to deal with "perfect" Steve Rogers? Will she be able to save the world or will she cave to the pressure?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"You have to be more careful," Pepper admonished.

"I'm fine," Toni scoffed, rolling her eyes. A smirk graced her lips as she draped herself on the couch.

"Seriously, Toni. Imagine what would happen if you got hurt. The media would be all over this," Pepper ranted before her features softened, "Plus, I would hate if anything happened to you. I care too much."

Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark industries, perched herself next to Toni Stark, 18-year-old genius. A brief feeling of guilt washed through Toni at the thought of causing the woman who practically raised her distress.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'll try to be more careful," Toni sat up straight, "But it wasn't my fault. My awesomeness is too much for the bad guys to handle. They just _have_ to come after me."

Toni's arrogance made Pepper shake her head in amusement. Sighing, she stood up and brushed herself off.

Toni's façade slipped as soon as she was alone. She winced when the fabric of her tank top rubbed the wounds on her ribs. Slowly, Toni stumbled down the stairs to her lab. Last she checked, there was a medical kit down there.

An hour later, Toni was hard at work on her next suit. With her ribs firmly wrapped, Toni only occasionally felt the pain. Sweat dripped down her brow, and a stray lock of dark brown hair kept falling in her face. Short hair just isn't conducive to ponytails.

Frustrated, Toni slammed the wrench down. She couldn't focus enough to do such detail oriented work. All she could think about, all she could dream about was Afghanistan. Shuddering, she attempted to push those thoughts from her mind.

"Miss Stark, it's been 32 hours since you last slept," JARVIS spoke up. Toni sighed. She wished she hadn't made her robotic control center so independent.

"Stop being such a mother hen, JARVIS. I can take care of myself." Despite her protests, Toni could feel sleep clawing its way towards her. The tired teenager climbed the stairs through the empty house. With a flop she collapsed on her pristine made duvet and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

The next evening, Toni flew back to the illuminated beacon with a grin on her face. The new suit was coming along fine, the tower was up and running, and the arc reactor hadn't been a problem since she created the new element. All in all, the day had been great. Now it was time to celebrate.

Mechanical hands disassembled the suit the minute she landed on the roof. The cool air hit her face as the robots removed her mask. Toni was looking forward to a hot shower, a glass of champagne, and a relaxing, incident free night.

After her shower, Toni changed into comfy flannel pajama pants and an iron maiden t-shirt; she loved the irony. Next on her list is Champagne. Pepper was waiting for her on the top floor, a glass already in her hand. When Toni reached for the bottle, Pepper slapped her hand away.

"You're not old enough," she chastised.

"Oh, come on. It's only one glass, and we're celebrating," Toni pleaded. Bemused, the woman Toni considered an older sister poured her a glass.

"A toast, to the new building," Pepper said, raising her champagne.

"To me getting the recognition I deserve," Toni announced cockily.

"Is it just me or does your body look smaller? Oh, wait, it's probably because your head has gotten so big," Pepper shot back. Before Toni was able to deliver the snarky reply already half-formed in her head, JARVIS cut in.

"Miss Stark, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is calling."

"Tell him to go away," Toni replied moodily. "We're celebrating."

"He's insisting."

"Just ignore him."

"Toni, just answer it" Pepper said, exasperated.

"Miss Stark, my protocols are being overridden."

"Ugh, I'll deal with this myself." Pulling out her high-tech phone, Toni said, "You've reached the phone of Toni Stark. Fortunately, I can't be reached right now. Don't leave a message."

Suddenly, the door slid open to reveal an annoyed Agent Coulsin.

"Hey Phil," Pepper greeted.

"Phil? His first name is Agent," Tony said sullenly.

"Hey, Toni," Phil said with a smile. Everyone knows he has a soft spot for Toni after all that she's been through. He's amazed that she can trust anyone after what happened with Obadiah.

"Go away. We're celebrating," Toni grumbled even though she couldn't help the small smile that slipped across her face.

"We need you to look at this," Phil said holding out a file.

Toni backed away and crossed her arms. "I don't like being handed things."

Pepper sighed. "Here, I'll take it. Hold this." She exchanged the glass of Champagne for the folder. Toni took the folder marked TOP SECRET from Pepper. Then, she flipped it open.

"The Avengers Initiative? I thought they scrapped that." Toni looked up at Phil with a raised eyebrow.

"We did, but some powerful forces have turned up that need extra attention."

"Wasn't I rejected? What was it? I was too unstable, too young, and apparently I don't play well with other," Toni mocked, making air quotes with her fingers.

Phil didn't have an answer for that.

Turning on her heel, Toni flicked through computer files that appeared on the holographic screens. Images of the Hulk rampaging through a city, Captain Steve Rogers throwing his shield, Agent Romanov flipping through the air to take out an enemy, and Hawkeye shooting an enemy down with his bow flicked across her line of sight.

"Toni, you don't have to do this," Pepper said with concern as her hand brushed through her long, ginger hair.

"Yes, Pepper. I do," Toni's face was serious.

She still felt like she had to atone for the weapon manufacturing she did in the past. She had no idea what she was doing. All she knew was that she had to please her father. Despite her brilliance, she was never enough for him. He said he wanted to protect her by keeping her true identity out of the public eye, but she thought otherwise. It was because she was a girl and reminded him too much of her mother. He was so overprotective of her because of how her mother died, yet it seemed that at the same time he couldn't even look his own daughter in the eye.

When she was twelve, Howard Stark had passed on leaving Toni a true orphan who didn't even exist according to the media. All they knew was Anthony "Tony" Stark, sarcastic womanizer currently dating Pepper Potts. This was because Howard didn't want them to know who Toni really was because then they would go after her.

Not that it stopped the terrorists who did capture her.

"Looks like I have some homework to do."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Toni Stark soared through the air behind the plane. The clear sky revealed the shining pearls forged deep in the belly of the night. Toni was brought back to that fateful night exactly one year, two months, and twelve days ago.

Toni could feel the heat of the day washing over her as sweat beaded on her brow. She could feel her drenched tank top sticking to the slippery seat of the Humvee. Sand suffocated the air and crept into every crevice possible.

Her senses played against her, not allowing her to push away the reminders of the past. Thankfully, Agent Coulson came in on her comm. System interrupting her nightmarish reminiscing.

"Toni, we have a situation. We need you to head over to help Rogers stop Loki."

Toni had read about the forsaken Asgardian god. Quite frankly, Loki scared her yet she couldn't help but be impressed in an evil genius kind of way.

"Fine. I'll go bail out the Capsicle. Is Legolas gonna be there?" Toni sighed as she changed destinations. It was a good thing that she had fixed the arc reactor, or she wouldn't be able to make it across the ocean.

"No, he's not," Coulson muttered. That interested Toni, but she didn't push the issue. It really seemed to bother Phil.

Soon, Loki's figure came into view. With her signature Stark snark, Toni hacked into the plane's mainframe and played an iron maiden song over the loudspeaker. The irony never ceased to amuse her.

"The guest of honor has arrived," Toni announced sarcastically, the suit distorting her voice to sound like the famous imposter Tony Stark.

Just as Loki raised his scepter at the elderly man standing against him, Captain Rogers crouched in front of him with his shield. The brilliant blue energy that shot towards him bounced harmlessly off of the vibranium. The breath whooshed out of Toni as the man went unharmed.

Deciding now was the perfect time to jump in, Toni raised her arms to chest level and let the power fly.

Her blasters whirred to action as a flash of energy arced towards the surprisingly attractive villain. Shaking off her thoughts, Toni watched in satisfaction as Loki tumbled onto his back. Unfortunately, he stood up a split second later. Irritated, the young superhero blasted off another couple of rounds which Loki neatly dodged.

Distantly, Toni was aware of the people around her. Almost as a unit, the mob of people frantically ran away from the vicinity of the otherworldly being. One particularly hysterical man, pushed past Toni which caused her to lose her footing.

"Oh _shit_."

Toni dove to the side, making the discharge of energy from the adopted god's scepter that was about to hit her straight in the chest only skim her arm. Pain shot through the appendage as her suit crumpled under the force. Before she had a chance to recover, a gold and leather clad fist was streaking towards her face. Managing to twist out of the way in the nick of time, the fist only met air.

Toni's relief was short-lived. Cement met metal, and it became hard for Toni to take in air. Her suit crushed against her ribs and blood dripped into her eye. Shakily, the infamous iron man made her way to her feet.

Captain America _finally _came to the conclusion that now was the exact perfect moment to step in, as opposed to when Toni was getting her ass kicked by a Norse god. Rogers launched his shield at Loki, but the villain evaded the projectile with a cruel laugh.

Raising his arms, Loki taunted, "Is that all you mundane, puny humans have? Give me a true challenge!"

Just as these words parted from his lips, Toni could see Roger's vibranium shield boomerang back to the fight. A laugh escaped from the young genius' mouth when the shield painted in true patriotic likeness collided with the back of Loki's head.

Rogers pounced on the fallen scoundrel before he had the chance to collect himself. The formidable Captain America knocked the scepter out of Loki's grasp.

Time froze as each superlative being watched the powerful staff skitter across the pavement. Slowly, Toni, Loki, and Rogers each glanced from the staff to each other and then back again. A long minute passed with next to no movement. Even the air was thick and unmoving as if it could sense the strain of the moment and acted accordingly. The tension was so heavy it could have been cut with a butter knife.

Suddenly, everyone jumped into action. Rogers went for Loki, Loki dove for his scepter, and Toni shot into the air just above the wrestling duo. Swooping down, Toni snapped up the object that held the power to rule the earth and everyone on it. Reveling in the power she grasped in her iron clad hands was pushed to the deep recesses of her mind when she saw Rogers holding a powerless Loki.

Shield's plane flew down close enough to the three oddly dressed figures for them to board. The god of mischief was soon detained with a pair of specially made handcuffs, and the plane was soaring high through the air.

On board, Agent Romanov sat in the pilot's seat in her skin-tight black leather and manned the flying vessel while Fury occupied the seat next to her. Loki was forced into a seat near the middle of the aircraft, and Rogers stood directly across staring him down.

Toni stood behind Natasha and tried not to move too much. Her suit was crushing her arm and ribs, but she couldn't remove the suit now. If she did, everyone would know the lie her father told the world. Everyone would know who she really is. Everyone would look at her differently. Everyone would treat her differently, and she can't have that. It was hard enough with her father; she didn't need it from anyone else.

"Stark," Rogers acknowledged tersely.

"Captain," Toni nodded back, her voice coming out gruffer than her normal one. "Pretty spry for an older fellow. What's your secret? Pilates?"

"What?" Rogers asked very confusedly.

"You might have missed a couple of things doing time as a capsicle." Despite her joking manner, an undercurrent of disdain was detectable in Toni's voice.

The Captain's face hardened. "No one told me they were bringing you in," he said equally as scornful.

Toni leaned in closer. It was too bad that Rogers couldn't see her glare because of the suit. "There's a lot they don't tell you."

The standoff was broken by Agent Romanov's voice, "Where is this storm coming from?"

The sky had transformed into a malevolent black, and clouds roiled in a mass of pandemonium. Lightning flashed in the distance, and thunder's booming voice echoed throughout the night sky.

Loki's face belied his nervousness as he glanced through the window.

"What? Scared of some lightning?" Rogers snapped at the god.

Instead of becoming defenseless, Loki only said, "I'm not overly frond of what follows."

Toni's brow furrowed. What could he mean by that?

Suddenly, the plane shook with the impact of a heavy object on the roof. Toni quickly grabbed onto a nearby pole to stop herself from falling on her butt. Next to her, Rogers grabbed his shield in preparation for what was to come.

Meanwhile, Toni pressed the button that opened the back hatch of the plane.

"What are you doing?" Rogers asked over the wind now rushing through the cabin of the high-tech plane.

A lone figure stood on the end of the opening. His attire was much the same of that of Loki's except a red cape donned his shoulders, and instead of horns on his head, golden locks of hair flowed down to his shoulders.

One might say because of this that he was feminine; however, Toni would highly disagree. He was anything but girly. His masculine features would leave even the toughest girl swooning. Fortunately, Toni was no ordinary girl. She disregarded his godly features and focused on the hammer in his hands that was coming for her face.

Unfortunately for her, it changed directions at the last minute and hit her full on the chest. Toni was rocketed backwards to skid across the metal floor of the plane.

The mysterious man grabbed Loki by his neck and forced him out of his seat. Before anyone had a chance to react, they were jumping out of the plane.

"Thanks for jumping in there, Captain," Toni spat out sarcastically. "You were a huge help."

Rogers ignored him and directed his question at Agent Romanov, "Now who's that guy?"

"Another Asgardian, maybe?"

"Think he's a friendly," Rogers asked.

Toni turned to face the man wrapped in a skin-tight American flag. "Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the tessaract is lost." Iron man turned on her heel to face the gaping exit.

"Wait, we need a plan of attack," Rogers shouted at her.

Toni only stopped for a second, not turning around. "I have a plan: Attack." The next second, she was launching from the plane into the air. With only one thing on her mind: find Loki.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Trees whizzed past her line of vision, and stars streaked above her on the black canvas of the night. If it was any other time, Toni would have loved to relax in this countryside. She had always dreamed of traveling the world. In the past, she was locked away in her lab manufacturing weapons for her father and was guarded by her fake identity. Now, she had the capability to explore but unfortunately had more pressing matters to attend to.

It was irony in its purest form.

At the moment, Toni Stark had to focus on the mischievous black-haired villain and the blond hunk of a man. It was troublesome trying to keep her attention away from their obvious masculine beauty, but she would never indulge her fantasies past her imagination. The idea was simply abominable.

The thing was, Toni had never truly been with a man. She had experience of sorts, but not the kind she wished to have.

Suddenly, sounds of yelling and fighting below in the forest derailed her train of thought. Glad for the distraction, Toni evaluated the situation that played out in front of her.

The new Asgardian towered over an inert Loki sprawled on the rocky ground. Toni couldn't help but notice how close they were to the edge of a cliff. It was too bad that they needed Loki for the Tesseract, or Toni would have just accidentally given them a helpful little push to end all of their problems. Unfortunately, that probably wouldn't go over too well with Fury.

"Where is the Tesseract?" the blond one demanded of the somehow still grinning Loki.

Loki let out a chuckle that held little mirth, "I've missed you, too, brother."

Well, that explained some of the events, but Toni wondered about their shared history. The two god-like figures were total opposites appearance wise. The young genius decided it was probably best to give the two brothers time to hash things out before she jumped in and saved the day – like usual. Maybe this way some of her questions would be unknowingly answered by them.

The scowl on the mystery man's face only deepened as he gazed at his sardonic brother. "I'm in no gaming mood," his voice boomed across the shadowed land.

Slowly, Loki rose from his where he lied. "You should thank me. With the Bifrost gone –" Loki's words were cut off by the approach of one Captain America.

_Damn him,_ Toni thought. She was just starting to get information out of the villain. Rogers always had to ruin everything for her.

The star-spangled hero landed with a thump on the ground as the parachute floated down to cover the grounds behind him. Rogers launched himself at the two otherworldly beings. Unfortunately for him, the immense mass of muscled god caught on to his extremely well thought out and strategic plan that put all other courses of action to shame.

Loki's brother turned on the Captain with a furious glare. Rogers didn't back down from the intimidating man. Instead, he met his glare with a glower of his own. The stare contest only lasted a couple of seconds, yet it seemed to drag on forever.

The tension was shattered when Loki's brother lifted his enormous hammer. The weapon whistled through the air before hitting the Captain full force in the chest. Luckily for Rogers, a comfy tree broke his fall.

Sighing in annoyance, Toni went to his rescue. Without her, this whole operation would have already been lost to the schemes of a conniving god. It was a good thing she was around to save the day.

Toni decided to forego her usual snarky entrance. These two were being annoying and didn't deserve her awesomeness. Toni frustratedly grabbed the blond-headed idiot by the neck and propelled him in the air. The curious looking pair was silhouetted against the glowing moon in the sky. In spite of the outwardly peaceful image they created, Toni was struggling to keep hold of her quarry. He was wriggling and attempting to free himself from the steely hold of Iron Man. Luckily for her, the suit's strength was holding firm.

Toni knew that it wouldn't be long before her grip on his neck failed. Toni launched the brawny man towards the ground; he looked like he could fend for himself. She followed his descent closely to see that he skidded across the ground and left a man-sized indent in the earth.

Toni landed smoothly in front of him; the slight wince from her wounds was the only thing that belied her invincible façade.

Slowly, the fallen god stood from the dirt. "Do not touch me again," he growled at Toni.

"Then don't take my stuff," he said evenly with a hint of challenge in his tone.

"You have no idea what you are dealing with."

Toni smirked. This guy had no idea what _he _was dealing with. "Uh, Shakespeare in the park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?" Toni mocked, satisfied with herself.

"This does not concern you, metal man." It never ceased to amuse her how no one ever thought to themselves that someone of her intelligence and skills could be a woman. They all just assumed her male. "Loki will face Asgardian justice."

"You give us the cube, and he's all yours. Till then, stay out of the way." The blond man looked as if he was actually contemplating Toni's half-proposal-half-threat.

That is, until Toni muttered, "Tourist."

The next thing she knew, Loki's brother hurled the hammer into his chest. Toni flew back into the pile of brush behind her. Inside her suit, the screen was flashing because of the damage.

"Well, if that's how it's gonna be," Toni grumbled to herself. She turned over so her hands were on the ground as if she had trouble standing up. Meanwhile, the exorbitantly muscled blond had a smug look on his face as the hammer returned to his hand.

Without warning, Toni turned while simultaneously blasting at him. She didn't give him time to recover before shooting through the air to kick him in the chest.

The Asgardian only went down for a second, but his hammer was knocked out of his grasp. However, he only had to hold out his arm to get the hammer back in his grip. He lifted the silver weapon to the sky, and a blinding bolt of lightning met it. The bolt lasted a couple of seconds before he pulled it away. The next instance, the hammer was pointed at her once again except this time it was going to hurt a lot more.

The lightning was directed towards the awed Iron Man. It hit him in the chest, causing electrical malfunctions in the suit. Toni raised her hand to block the energy, but it just kept coming. Sparks shot out across the armor. Pieces of the metal were bending under the pressure. Sharp ends of metal bit into her skin, drawing blood.

After an interminable amount of time, the lighting finally stopped. Toni's suit went dark for a second before she heard JARVIS's voice.

"Suit at 400 percent capacity."

Toni chuckled in amusement. "How about that?"

Then, she let it rip. A gigantic stream of electrical energy battered into the Asgardian's chest which propelled him backwards about 50 feet.

Toni flew to a stop in front of him. The blonde threw a punch at her jaw, but she managed to dodge it seconds before it did irreparable damage to her face.

Toni retaliated with a punch of her own, but he grabbed her wrist, effectively stopping her. Toni tried the other arm only to have that one caught in his grasp.

They stared at each other, clearly at a standstill. Toni wanted to recoil from his crushing hold, but he was entirely too strong. She was starting to panic because the suit started beeping indicating its rapid failure. In a last-minute effort, Toni unclenched her hand and blasted her thrusters at him.

The muscular blonde's grip faltered long enough for her to rip her arms away and head butt him. Sadly for her, he reacted with a head butt of his own, and his were much more powerful. Toni flipped backwards, landing in a crouch.

Her thrusters fired her straight into the Asgardian who then landed in a tree. They were both about to go at each other for round two when a shield bounced off of the both of them.

"Hey! That's enough," Rogers said from the cliff above them. He jumped down to where they stood panting.

"I don't know what you're planning on doing here," Rogers said in a low, even voice.

The blond cut in with his booming voice, "I am here to put an end to Loki's schemes."

Rogers didn't miss a beat when he replied, "Then prove it. Put that hammer down."

Toni inwardly sighed at the captain's stupidity. "Uh, yeah, No! Bad call. He loves his ham-" Toni was cut off by a hammer knocking him backward.

"You want me to put the hammer down?" the crazy eyed man bellowed. Time seemed to move in slow motion as Toni watched from the ground where she lay.

The Asgardian held his beloved hammer aloft as he jumped the distance between Rogers and him. At the same time, the captain raised his vibranium shield to protect himself from the oncoming danger.

A brilliant blue light erupted outwardly like a bomb detonating. The force of the explosion that occurred when the hammer met the shield blew all three of them backwards.

Toni grunted in pain as she pulled herself from the debris. Next to her, Captain America and the Asgardian did the same. The silence was only broken by the panting of each of their breaths.

Finally, Rogers spoke. "Are we done here?" The blond man in the red cape surveyed the damage. Trees were toppled over, roots were upturned, and branched were scattered across the roiled dirt.

The unnaturally strong man decided that they should probably retrieve Loki so that the scrawny humans could reclaim the Tesseract.

Half an hour later, Loki was being led down the halls of shield's brand new helicraft headquarters surrounded by a dozen armed guards. He passed the lab on the way and grinned maliciously at its occupant. Inside, a man wearing a purple button down with scruffy brown hair took off his glasses to press his fingers to his temples and ward off the incoming headache.

It wasn't long before the godly villain was placed in his cell. It was wide enough on both sides for him to pace a couple of steps either way, and it was tall enough for him to stand up straight in. The ceiling and floor were pure white while the walls were made out of a specially made reinforced glass. As if that wasn't enough, it was suspended over the hull of the aircraft. There would be no escaping this prison.

The armed guards left only for Fury to take their place. Fury strolled to the control panel that was located near the high-tech cell, his trench coat billowing out behind him.

"In case you don't understand, there will be no escaping. You so much as scratch that glass." Fury pressed a few buttons, and the floor of the aircraft opened. Wind swirled through the gaping hole that perfectly matched the size of the cell. Fury had to yell over the noise. "It's 30,000 feet straight down in a steel trap. Understand?"

Fury pressed a button, and the hole closed back on itself.

"Ant. Boot," he said, gesturing first from Loki and then to the control panel.

Loki only laughed. "It is certainly an impressive cage. Not built, I think, for me." If Fury's display of power had made Loki nervous, no sign of it showed on his face; he was all arrogance.

Fury leveled his one-eyed gaze at him. "No. It's for something far stronger."

Loki turned to face the security camera stationed just outside his prison. "So I have heard. It is for a mindless beast makes playing of a man." He turned to face Fury. "How desperate are you that you call on lost creatures to defend you."

In the meeting room of the craft sat four of the Avengers. Thor, the newest Avenger and the Asgardian that had come to take Loki away, leaned against the table. Natasha Romanov sat in front of the screen that displayed Loki in his cell. Captain America sat in one of the rotating chairs, listening to Loki taunt Fury.

Lastly, Bruce Banner stood near the back with his glasses in his hands. He was the one Loki was talking about; he was the mindless beast. Despite Loki's words, he would be the last of the four suspected of mindlessness. His appearance reflected his intelligent and calm nature.

Fury let his anger seep into his voice. "How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't control, you talk about peace, and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

Loki leaned closer to the glass that separated Fury and him. His eyes revealed his malice, and his nostrils flared slightly. "It burns you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have the power – unlimited power, and for what? A warm light for all mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is."

Fury would not be rattled. "Well, let me know if real power wants a magazine or something," he threw over his shoulder on his way out.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The only thing Toni Stark saw was the cloudy blue of the sky as she soared through the air. Toni was looking for SHIELD headquarters which was supposedly in floating around somewhere up here.

"Miss, I am detecting a significant heat signature 67 degrees to your right," JARVIS piped up.

Inside her suit, Toni's screen zoomed in on the area. Now that she was looking closer, Toni could detect the presence of an unverified helicarrier with deflectors to fool the eye into thinking it wasn't there.

It was an interesting piece of technology yet surprisingly simple. It consisted of an interconnected web of cameras that fed the image of the sky above the aircraft onto the belly of the plane that the world would see if not for the cameras. Toni knew she could easily make a more sophisticated system with a paperclip and some tinfoil.

She would have to work on that as soon as possible. She looked forward to the challenge; new projects always took her mind off things. If it wasn't for the iron man suit, Toni would have gone insane when she got back from the caves.

Toni shuddered at the memory of what happened to her in that god forsaken place. She could never escape the nightmares; the terrorists had etched them into her skin with a knife. It was a good thing no one actually saw the real her or else they would know the truth. They only saw the automated robot that was the legendary Tony Stark.

The creation of Tony Stark was Howard's crowning glory. Tony was created a couple of years before the real Toni was actually born. Toni presumed it was to keep up the image of a perfect, happy family. Howard crafted a robot that could be controlled from hundreds of miles away or actually have someone inside of it. A synthetic skin encased the inner-workings of the machine that felt real to all that touched it. It was even modified to appear as if it aged like an actual person.

Howard never let Toni control the mechanical man. She was locked away in the lab naïvely doing everything her father told her to do. Howard kept Toni under his thumb for many years, and it wasn't until he passed on that Toni took over Tony Stark's public image.

Toni's sarcastic attitude seeped into the robot which gave him the reputation of a careless millionaire playboy. Toni didn't mind this new evolvement because it allowed her to focus on her weapons manufacturing. Even though her father was gone, Toni still followed his every word and belief.

It wasn't until two years ago that she realized the truth of her actions.

Trying to put what happened in the past has proved exceedingly difficult for the young billionaire. Joining the Avengers will hopefully help with that.

Soon, Toni lowered herself onto the surface of the helicarrier. Despite her best efforts for a smooth landing, the impact jarred her wounds where the suit had collapsed in on itself. Toni was looking forward to when she could finally take it off.

No one came out to greet Toni which peeved her a little bit. Didn't they know she was coming? At the same time, this meant that Toni could find a place to transform into her alter ego.

She didn't want them knowing her secret. This had to stay strictly between her, Pepper, and Phil. Agent Romanov had come close enough to knowing last year when she posed as her assistant than Toni was comfortable with.

Still in her suit, Toni walked down stark white hallways. Fluorescent lighting blinded the few passerbies'. This area of the craft was nearly deserted which made the clang of Toni's footsteps against the metal floor deafening.

"JARVIS, call Phil."

"Your wish is my command, Miss Stark," JARVIS replied dryly.

Toni's lip curled up in amusement. "JARVIS, do I need to put you in time out again?"

If JARVIS could roll his eyes, Toni knew he would've at that moment. "Calling Agent Coulson, Miss."

The phone rang twice before Phil's surprised face showed up on the screen.

"Toni, what do you need? Shouldn't you be off somewhere discovering time travel or something?"

"Did you not read the schedule I faxed over? That's tomorrow. It just so happens that today as in this very minute, I'm standing in the middle of SHIELD headquarters looking for a place to ditch the armor. I can strip down right here if necessary, but I thought you would appreciate my need for privacy."

Phil cocked an eyebrow, not at all impressed. "I thought you would love the attention."

Toni immediately grew sober, and her eyes swirled with inner turmoil hardened by the past. Her voice was steely when she replied, "Not that kind of attention."

Phil looked awkward for a second before changing the subject. "I'll get you a room set up. Just give me a second."

Toni nodded, still troubled by where her thoughts had taken her. Contrary to what most people believed, Toni avoided notice as much as possible. Her alter ego let her avoid the public eye, and in front of the few people who Toni did know, she put on a convincing front.

Minutes later, Phil turned his attention back to Toni. "A room is set up for you. It's on the D wing. Room 4. To get in it's 92347."

"92347. Got it. Thanks Phil," Toni said before ending the call.

Toni found her room with little trouble. Holographic keypad beeped as she entered the security code. Then, the door swished open to reveal another blindingly white room. The only difference was the lumpy looking cot and adjoining bathroom.

Toni sighed in relief when her mask slid up to expose her face to the fresh air. Parts of the suit slid off into the nearby case. It was an arduous process because parts of the suit had been crushed under Thor and Loki's onslaught. When it was finally all off, Toni slumped onto the hard pillow. Her white tank top was spotted with blood, and a red puddle had formed where her feet still touched the ground.

With a groan, Toni pushed herself to her feet from her sitting position. She rooted around for a first aid kit. Eventually, she found one under the sink in the bathroom. It was a good thing she found it because her ribs were really starting to bother her.

With extreme effort, Toni peeled herself out of her blood soaked garments. Then, she pulled out tape to wrap it around her torso. When the bandage seemed stable enough to support her bruised ribs, Toni used her teeth to cut the end of the tape. Now that that was done, she moved on to the multitude of other cuts and bruises that littered her body.

One particularly nasty gash blossomed on her forearm where Thor had grabbed her wrist. The metal of the broken suit had rubbed off the top few layers of skin which left a vulnerable, oozing sore.

A bottle of antiseptic, three boxes of band aids, and two rolls of medical tape later, Toni deemed herself fit for action.

With a sigh, Toni heaved her aching body onto the bed. The only thing on her mind right now was how good sleep would feel. Her limbs dropped against the sheets like concrete blocks. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she could feel the thrall of sleep dragging her in.

KNOCK KNOCK.

Toni was jolted out of her half sleep by the pounding on her door. For a moment, Toni was confused as to what was happening. Who was knocking on her door? No one else knew she was here yet. Then again, they did have cameras all over the place presuming that it was a half decent system.

Toni was about to ask who it was when she realized that she sounded like herself. She didn't know whether it was Phil or not and couldn't risk her secret.

Panicking, Toni attempted to make her voice sound lower. "Umm, uh, hold on."

She scrambled around for the Tony-bot. It was secured in another black case with an electrical lock that could only be opened by her command. Toni pulled out the mechanics that created her public image.

In mere seconds, the suit snapped onto her body. Then, the head locked into place effectively disguising her identity. Toni quickly glanced in the mirror above the sink. What greeted her was the sight of a middle-aged man with short dark hair and a goatee/mustache combination.

"Stark, are you in there?" A voice said from outside.

Satisfied with her quick change, Toni took a deep breath to prepare her façade before she pulled the door open.

On the other side, Agent Maria Hill stood impatiently. Agent Hill was dressed similarly to Agent Romanov in her skintight black cat suit. Her hair resembled Toni's in color but longer and with bangs.

"You called," Tony said with a gratuitous smirk.

"You need to go talk to the others. They don't know that you're here yet." Agent Hill crossed her arms over her chest. She really wasn't one to put up with any nonsense.

"Have you ever been to Maui? I heard it's great this time of year," Toni said just to annoy her.

"Stark, just get down to the meeting room." Now Agent Hill was exasperated.

Toni talked over the end of Hill's sentence. "You should take a vacation there sometime. I bet you would look great in a bikini."

It was the wink that really put Agent Hill over the edge. Her usual calm manner was fraying at the edges under Toni's act at being a womanizer. A slew of curses flew out of Hill's mouth, most likely aimed at Toni. Then, she turned sharply on her heel and paced away. Chuckling at her predictable reaction, Toni followed soon after.

Toni could feel her wounds rubbing against the inner workings of the machine. It was a good thing that the Tony-bot's facial expressions were under control because if it actually mirrored Toni's expression, it would be screwed up in pain.

The twisting hallways led back to the central meeting room where the Avengers gathered. Through the glass, Toni could see them sitting in awkward silence. Occasionally, Rogers tried to make small talk, but the other's silence shut that down quickly.

Despite the weariness that had set into her bones, Tony squared her shoulders and steeled herself from the first true introduction to her fellow superheroes.

Unfortunately for her, Toni knew that it was going to be a long day.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Just before Toni entered the room, she noticed that Agent Hill had stalked off to attend to God-knows-what. For a minute, Toni wished she would come back. It wasn't that she was insecure or anything; the great Iron Man always just looked more impressive with an entourage of normal people to flank her.

With a shake of her head, Toni neatly took those thoughts, folded them into small stacks, and locked them away in a steel case in the back of her mind.

Toni blew through both double doors with her usual bravado, and all eyes turned to her. Rogers' stare was judgmental, Thor's was one of joyful exuberance, Agent Romanov was sizing Toni up, and Bruce Banner's gaze was filled with guarded curiosity. Toni met each of their stares with one of her own to show them that she wasn't backing down.

Toni wondered what they saw as they looked at her. It was weird to think that they saw a middle-aged man with _magnificent_ facial hair when they looked at her. Did they notice the Black Sabbath t-shirt first, or did their eyes go straight to the glowing arc reactor? Did they see the immature billionaire or the fake smile plastered on her equally fake face?

Rogers broke the tense silence by offering his hand to Toni. "Stark, thanks for the help out there." Reluctantly, Toni shook the star-spangled hand attached to the tall blond.

"Saving people's asses is my specialty," she boasted with an arrogant wink.

Captain America's face hardened at Toni's cocky words. He was only trying to be polite to the son of a man he was once friends with.

Toni pretended she didn't see the growing disdain in the stoic blonde's eyes. The barbed sarcastic comments kept her fragile emotional shell in place and created a wall of aggravation between herself and those around her.

The air grew thick with the pressure building up between the two heroes. Natasha Romanov wasn't about to jump into the pool of testosterone that was nearly palpable. Past experience has taught her that these were the type of situations that revealed the most about a person.

Thor, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to the disgust between Stark and Rogers.

He bounded over to the significantly shorter man and exclaimed, "Man of Iron! Despite these dark times, I am honored to battle beside you."

Thor clapped Toni's shoulder with a strength that would have caused her to stumble if not for her reinforced disguise. A jubilant smile graced the god's handsome features, and Toni had to force her attention back to forming a sassy response.

"More like battle against me," Toni muttered under her breath before raising her voice. "So Thunderhead, is there a safety on that, or is it just a fly by night kind of thing?"

Thor's face creased in confusion before following Toni's gaze to the hammer gripped loosely in his hand.

"I do not know of what this 'safety' is you talk of, but I do travel under the guise of the night on occasion."

Toni shook her head with a light chuckle. This guy's cluelessness was definitely going to keep her entertained in the coming weeks.

Generally, Toni was decent at reading people. She could get an idea of what type of person they are based on a conversation, but there was one person in the room that was puzzling her.

The infamous Bruce Banner was quietly stationed in the back corner of the room. His dark hair blended in with the harsh shadows cast across his face from the fluorescent lighting. Toni noted that for a nerdy scientist, he was actually somewhat built. Don't get her wrong; Dr. Banner was nowhere near the size of the god or the Captain.

Beneath his reticent countenance, Toni detected a stormy fury burning low in his being. It intrigued the young billionaire as to what he was hiding underneath his professor-like looks.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled, and I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Bruce's head tilted in an inquisitive manner as he regarded the curious man before him. No one had ever been so blunt; everyone walked on eggshells around him.

"Thanks," he said shaking the proffered hand.

At that moment, Nick Fury blew through the doors in his shin-length trench coat and matching eye patch. Immediately, Natasha and Rogers straightened their spines appearing just as much the trained little soldiers they are. Toni only rolled her eyes at their little displays of respect.

"Dr. Banner is only here to locate the cube," Fury announced while glaring at Toni.

Toni arched an eyebrow at the spy in front of her. She didn't necessarily believe that, but she let it go for the time being. Now was not the time to be questioning her superiors at every turn.

Actually, it always was the time to question her superiors. Who else was going to keep them on the straight and narrow?

"So what exactly are we dealing with here?" Toni asked mostly of Thor. "What's with reindeer games down there?"

At the mention of his brother, the lines of Thor's face etched with concern. "He has an army, called the Chitauri. They are not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

The Avenger's looked dumbfounded by this new information. Their mind's raced to comprehend the enormity of what was going to happen to their home planet.

Rogers was the first to speak. "An army from outer space."

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for, " Bruce said as he made the connection.

"Selvig?" Thor asked with a look of great surprise.

"He's an astrophysicist," Banner explained.

Thor looked downtrodden at the news. "He's a friend."

Natasha piped up from the other side of the glass encased room, "Loki has them under some kind of spell along with one of ours." Clint's harsh features flashed through her mind for a half of a second before she forcefully pushed the thought out.

Rogers had other matters on his mind. "I wanna know why Loki let us take him so easily. He's not leading an army from here."

In her head, Toni agreed, but she wasn't about to say that out loud. God knows what would happen if people saw her start agreeing with stars and stripes over there.

Bruce's mouth turned down in a half frown while his mind flew through different possibilities as to the god of mischief's sudden surrender.

A minute later, he spoke, "I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell the crazy on him."

Thor abruptly exploded from his chair. His normally goofy expression was gone, and in its stead, a protective rage emerged.

"Have a care how you speak! Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother!"

"He killed eighty people in two days," Natasha deadpanned.

Thor grimaced at the reminder of his brother's troubled ways.

"He's adopted," he said as way of explanation.

"So what are we going to do?" Rogers asked.

Fury turned to the two scientists standing side by side.

"You two," he demanded pointing at them. "Get to work on finding the cube. This is top priority."

Toni knocked her feet together and mock saluted. "Sir, yes, sir!"

Natasha rolled her eyes at Stark's antics, and Steve glared at the side of Toni's head. Toni could feel his stare, and the side of her mouth quirked up in a smirk.

The young prodigy was ecstatic to be working with Dr. Banner. She had been following his research for quite some time and had come to look up to him despite never meeting him before now.

"Shall we get on with it, Dr. Banner?" Toni asked with a gallant sweep of her hands towards the doors.

Bruce shook his head in amusement as he made his way to the lab next door.

Toni was having difficulty walking. Her ribs were really giving her trouble, and her oozing wrist kept rubbing against the inner workings of the Tony-bot. She figured her ribs may be more than bruised, and she only hoped that they hadn't punctured a lung or something equally as terrible. That would mean she needed a doctor, and that just wouldn't do for her situation.

The truth was Toni had never been to a doctor.

Howard Stark wanted to keep her out of the limelight and bringing her to a doctor's office would raise questions that he didn't want to answer. Questions like when did Stark have a daughter. Why didn't anyone know?

Even after what happened in Afghanistan, Toni had been to a private doctor sworn to silence. Toni didn't know what he said, but Phil must have threatened him with something really bad because the doctor never breathed a word to anyone. He didn't even say anything about the condition she came in.

And she was in a bad condition. Actually, she was so far past bad that there wasn't even a word for it.

Her body was mutilated.

Bloody gashes striped across her skin. Burns raised star-shaped pinkish scars across her back. The crack of a whip was forever engraved in her brain.

And those weren't even the worst. She would always have the crowds of disfigurements etched into her skin, but the mental wounds were far worse. Toni awoke from nightmares every single time she attempted to sleep despite her three months in Afghanistan being a couple of years ago.

She only got three hours of sleep on a regular basis. Most nights, she just stayed in her lab downstairs working on her suits.

Toni could still hear them breathing against her neck. She could smell the putrid stench of stale sweat and fresh blood. Iron was a constant taste from her own blood that spurted out as they beat her within an inch of her life.

"Little bitch," they growled in her ear. "You know you want it.'

Her pleading cries resonated in the dank cavern.

During the regular torture, she never begged. She screamed, she sobbed, and she yelled, but she never once begged them.

She had definitely begged later.

She begged them as they covered her blood soaked mouth with their rancid, grimy hands.

She begged them as naked flesh was revealed to the Afghanistan air.

She begged them as said hands ran over her body.

Then, she couldn't beg anymore because of the hair-raising scream that erupted from her throat because of the all consuming pain that engulfed her lower regions.

She struggled against her scratchy rope bonds. Her already torn nails were worn down to the bits trying to undo the knots that held her wrists together behind her.

Unfortunately, her struggles yielded no results.

"Are you coming?" Bruce asked, pulling her out of her gloomy reverie.

Toni mentally chided herself to keep it together. She was fine. She was always fine.

The lab next door was state of the art, but Toni wasn't impressed. Hers at Stark towers far exceeded the meager workings of S.H.I.E.L.D.S laboratory. For one thing, Toni had robots, and robots were always better.

On the other hand, this lab contained Loki's staff, and that might just trump robots.

Toni pulled out a hard briefcase and set it on the table. With the touch of a few buttons, the case opened to reveal a high-tech computer. A holographic screen popped into the air with a swoosh of Toni's hand. Next to her, Bruce Banner looked on with raised eyebrows.

"And all I brought was a change of clothes," Bruce remarked dryly.

"I'm just a regular old boy scout. I have a badge and everything," Toni joked back.

"For some reason, I can see only see you getting kicked out of boy scouts," Bruce shot at her.

This remark actually made Toni let out a loud laugh because it most likely would have been true if she was allowed to do those kinds of things as a kid.

"We should really start working on this now," Toni managed to say through her laughter.

Bruce let his smile drop as he turned back to his research. "So I've set up a tracking signal for gamma signals over the normal level. It hasn't turned up much yet, but I only just started it."

"Sounds like a good place to start. We should probably get to work figuring out this staff stuff. It seems to be important."

Toni turned to look at Loki's weapon, but she must have turned too quickly because the room swam in her vision. Luckily, she managed to steady herself on the nearby table before she fell over. Bruce was too engrossed in studying the staff to notice her dizziness.

"It seems to have energy similar to the Tesseract, but I don't really know where to start."

Bruce stared at the weapon in confusion. Normally, Toni would have been thrilled to be able to experiment with something so exotic, but right now she was a little preoccupied with her woozy state of being.

Toni took a step forward, but before her foot even hit the floor, she knew it was a bad idea. She didn't have the table to catch herself with this time, and the world around her tilted. Her legs buckled, and the floor grew nearer.

She felt the impact in her wounded ribs as they hit against the rigid ground below her. Without thinking, Toni put out her hands to catch her fall. That was a stupid move on her part. Her wrist buckled under her weight which most likely injured it even more than it already was.

"Oh, shit," Toni groaned in pain.

Bruce whirled around at the sudden racket behind him. He was astonished to see Toni Stark sprawled on the ground.

"Whoa, are you okay Tony? What happened," Bruce asked looking slightly frazzled which was unusual for him.

"Calm down, big boy. I'm fine. Just help me up," Toni groaned grasping for Bruce's arm.

With Bruce's help, she stumbled to her feet. Toni had to lean heavily on Bruce to make it over to the black chair that stood next to the lab desk. A low groan escaped her lips when she lowered herself into the plush seat.

"What happened, Toni?" Bruce asked.

Toni waved off his concern. "I just got a little dizzy. It's nothing serious."

Despite her flippant attitude, Toni had to clench her jaw against the throbbing pain that emanated from her entire body.

"You sure? Because you don't look too great."

Suddenly, Toni gasped at an unexpected surge of pain. "Yup, I'm just peachy. Ready to go fight some monsters. Tip top shape."

Toni would have been more convincing if she wasn't bent over clutching her ribs.

"Is it your ribs? Let me take a look," Bruce asked. The doctor made towards Toni, but she immediately shied away.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." Toni assured him.

"You obviously aren't. Just let me help." Bruce grasped her fake shoulder surprisingly tight.

Against her will, Bruce reached down to her wrist to check her pulse. Unfortunately, Toni didn't move fast enough to stop him. She knew what he would find or more likely wouldn't find.

The one flaw with the Tony-bot suit was that she never could figure out how to create a plausible pulse. It wasn't necessarily the pulse part that was the problem. She could do that easily enough, but to a trained ear it would sound too mechanical. Also, checking her pulse would lead to veins and other things that she couldn't manufacture. She just had to make sure she didn't get any medical attention while in the Tony-bot.

Bruce looked up in confusion at Toni. "Tony, why don't you have a pulse?"

Toni sighed. There was no hiding it now. She had to tell him, or he would do god know's what.

"What is going on here, Tony," Bruce demanded to know.

Toni could see that he was getting riled up, and she knew that if she let it get worse, it would end in disaster.

With great uncertainty, Toni lowered her mask to reveal herself to the doctor that sat across from her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Bruce stared dumbfounded. He couldn't believe what he was seeing

The famous playboy billionaire Tony Stark was . . . not Tony Stark?

If Tony Stark wasn't Tony Stark, then who was he . . . . or she?

In a manner of seconds, these thoughts poured through the bewildered Doctor Banner's frazzled mind. He had no idea what was happening, and to make things worse, he could feel his pulse rising to a dangerous level.

A pale Toni spoke up from her slumped position on the chair. "Whoa, big guy. Calm down. It's okay. I'm still Toni Stark just without all the . . . extra parts."

Bruce attempted to regulate his harsh breathing, but it proved extremely difficult when a mysterious and most likely woman stood across from him. Bruce managed to get himself under control enough that he wasn't going to suddenly hulk out, and he took a minute to actually look at the pseudo-Tony.

Bruce was quite surprised at what he saw.

What he presumed was a woman masquerading as Tony Stark was actually a young girl of nineteen. At first glance, the girl's face was a mask of defiance and attitude, but underneath, Bruce could detect the fatigue that plagued the young girl's bones.

"I want answers. Now!" Bruce demanded.

Toni knew that this was going to be a difficult discussion. She had no idea how the older scientist would react, and she couldn't let her secret get out. Toni shuddered to think what would happen if Fury was to find out that she had been lying to him all along.

"It's kind of a long story," Toni said fidgeting nervously with her fingers.

Anger glinted in Bruce's golden brown eyes at the evasion of his question.

"I have time."

Toni decided to tell him the bare minimum in hopes that it would satisfy him. She knew that it probably wouldn't be enough, but a girl can dream.

"Look, my dad wanted a boy but got me instead. Of course, I was so amazingly smart that I was able to rebuild a computer in twenty minutes, so he set me to work on weapons. He didn't want me in the public eye so he created the Tony-bot," she said gesturing to the suit she still wore.

"You're only a kid, though," Bruce murmured to himself just barely loud enough for her to hear.

"Hey, I am most certainly _not _a kid," Toni replied indignantly. "I will have you know that I am nineteen years old."

Bruce shook his head and ignored her huffy attitude in favor for more pressing questions. "First of all, what's your real name?"

"Still Toni Stark but with an 'i" instead of a 'y'."

"How come you're only nineteen, but Tony Stark is a middle-aged man?" Bruce asked.

The young girl heaved a sigh as she realized that the older scientist would most definitely not go away without a proper explanation.

"First, let's go somewhere a little more private so I can get out of this thing. It isn't exactly the most comfortable suit out there. There's not even a place to pee. Do you know how annoying it is to take on and off just to go to the bathroom?" Toni rolled her eyes in mock aggravation at her trivial plight, but even she could tell her humor was weak.

Toni wasn't feeling too great. When she hauled herself from her sitting position, her legs wobbled below her, and black dots crossed her line of sight. Bruce didn't appear in the mood to help her, so she pushed through the muddle in her mind. Her mask flipped back up to cover her angular face.

"C'mon, big boy. You want answers, follow me," Toni said with forced bravado. Her voice changed again from its naturally higher pitch to the low tones of the middle-aged Toni-bot. She gestured grandly towards the door sarcastically.

Bruce gave her a dry look. No one around here appreciated her humor. It was a tough world to live in.

Toni shakily stumbled down the hallway ahead of Bruce. The whitewash of the walls didn't help much with her dizzy spells. Toni knew they were probably because of blood loss. After all, that gash on her wrist had bled a lot despite her rudimentary patch up job. Figure that in with the other minor cuts littering her body, and she knew that she wasn't in great shape.

Toni desperately hoped that no one else walked by because her façade was going to break down any second. She didn't want anyone to think she was a crybaby weakling.

It seemed like an eternity before they arrived at her room, but it was really only a matter of minutes. She had to try a couple of times before the door was unlocked. When it finally opened, she staggered into the dimly lit room.

The bed was just how she left it, unkempt and unmade from her close encounter with sleep. A blood splash contrasted sharply with the white of the towel crumpled in the corner. A simple suitcase rested against the wall closest to the bed, and nothing adorned the barren walls surrounding the desolate living space.

Toni lurched inside knocking her suit case over in a hasty descent to the messy bed. Bruce entered warily. He wasn't usually the trusting type, but here he was with a nineteen year old girl who had been impersonating one of the most famous billionaires for her entire life.

He had no idea why he was following the teenager to a secluded room, but it's not likely for her to hurt him. After all, he had the Hulk on his side albeit reluctantly on his part. Bruce was more concerned about what would happen to the helicarrier if he did end up Hulking-out.

Toni sighed in relief as the pieces of her suit retracted from their snug mold around her body. She lifted her hips when the chinks of fake skin and mechanics around her backside needed to go into the suit. It wasn't long before she sat exhausted on the bed in a white fraying and slightly yellowed tank top and athletic shorts.

Toni watched while Bruce took her appearance in now that she was fully herself. His eyes flitted from her weathered skin that was close to pasty from so much time spent in the lab and never getting to go outside down to her ratty black shorts that reached to mid-thigh.

Bruce noticed the silvery raised skin of scars that trailed from her calves to underneath her shorts. He could only make out the most prominent ones, but it sparked his curiosity. She knew from experience that those types of marks did not come easily to a person.

"I'm kind of craving a chocolate chip cookie right about now. What about you? Why don't you go get me one while I just lay here and take a nice long nap?" Toni rambled trying to avoid the coming discussion.

"Toni, no," Bruce said flatly. He leveled her with a gaze that demanded she give him actual answers now.

Toni huffed in annoyance at the obstinate man. Why couldn't he just let it go?

"Look, I am actually Toni Stark. Always have been, and always will be. The Tony Stark that everyone knows isn't real, I am."

Bruce eyed her suspiciously. "Why don't I believe you? It's not possible for no one to know who you are."

Toni shrugged lightly, and that simple act took up too much of her energy to be healthy. "It's the truth. If you want answers why, ask Howard Stark. He was the one that made the Tony-bot and made me design weapons for him."

Bruce took a minute to process this new development. It didn't surprise him that Howard Stark would do something so harsh to his daughter. He was used to bad parenting, and Howard Stark seemed pretty selfish.

"So you've been doing this your entire life?" Bruce asked.

Toni leaned back on her hands. "Yup. This is the big leagues, and I'm a seasoned pro."

"Did you have anything to do with Stark industries stopping weapon manufacturing?"

Toni's eyes flitted everywhere in the room except for at Bruce. "Uh, yeah. That was me. I was bored when I got back. Too much money will do that to a person."

Bruce could tell her bravado was forced but decided not to push the issue. "Wait, You said when you got back. Was that those couple of months when you were on vacation in the Caribbean?"

"It's beautiful this time of year, you know, what with the scorching heat and crowds of people," Toni drawled sarcastically.

Bruce shook his head at the overwhelming amount of information he had just received. His hand came up to rub against his temples.

"So who else knows about all this?" He gestured widely in her general direction.

"Only Pepper, Phil, and you. Obadiah knew, too, but we all saw how well that worked out." Toni answered muttering the last sentence under her breath, but Bruce still caught part of it.

"Obadiah?" he asked with an inquisitive tilt of his head.

"Yeah, he was kind of like an uncle to me. When Howard died, he took over. I went away, and he took advantage of it. He tried to kill me a couple times, but it was no biggie. He's gone now, and I got over it." Toni tried to sound flippant, but she was actually choosing her words with scrutiny.

Bruce couldn't believe what he was hearing. This guy, Obadiah, actually tried to kill her. What kind of man does that to their surrogate niece?

Toni noticed the look of disgust that marred Bruce's worn features, and she only hoped that it was because of Obadiah's traitorous actions and not her own life of deceit.

Suddenly, her throat began to burn with thirst right when he stomach rumbled from lack of food. She pushed herself from the bed with immense effort. It only took her one step to feel the effects of her wounds.

She clutched at her ribs as the aching feeling increased. Her head swam from dizziness, and she fell to her knees.

Bruce looked on in alarm. He rushed to the teenager's side and checked her pulse. It was irrational that he was relieved that he was able to feel it this time. It was highly improbable that she was in yet another suit. Bruce's paranoid nature was just kicking in.

The doctor ascertained that Toni was okay to move, so he pulled her to her feet. She leaned heavily on his shoulder as the traveled the short distance to her bed.

Once Toni was laid out, Bruce asked her, "I need to check the wounds. I'm going to have to remove you tank top, and it's strictly professional. Is that okay?"

Toni nodded in acquiescence and groaned at what the movement did to her growing headache. Bruce carefully lifted the tank top to reveal a black sports bra over medical wrap. Bruce shook his head at the appalling state of the wrap.

"Did you do this?" Bruce asked. "This is terrible."

"Hey, it's difficult when you're injured."

Bruce chuckled at her attempt at sounding offended. She just sounded like a little girl alone in the world.

Bruce cautiously pushed the sports bra up and unwrapped the medical tape to reveal a nasty purplish yellow bruise that was nearly the size of two hands. Toni hissed when Bruce accidently jostled it, and Bruce winced in sympathy.

"There's not much I can do for this one except to rewrap it and tell you to take some Advil," Bruce said.

Toni turned her head away to try to avoid the awkward situation. She did not think of Bruce in that way at all. The very idea was unspeakable; he was almost twice her age.

Now, Toni was vulnerable. Exposed. Bare in more ways than one, and it made her uncomfortable. She hated feeling like this. It had happened before and hadn't turned out well.

Instinctively, Toni curled into herself despite the pain that flared up from her ribs. Bruce looked at her with a hint of somber knowledge glowing in his eyes. He knew that reaction, and he knew the cause.

Gently, Bruce reached out to her ignoring the small whimper that escaped Toni's lips. "Hey. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to wrap your ribs again."

After a minute, Toni unfurled herself to allow Bruce to patch her up. The doctor stretched the medical tape tight around her ribs and chest before pulling the sports bra and tank top back down.

Next, he soothingly reached for the oozing gash on her right wrist. Blood had soaked through the bandages and crusted over. He knew that this wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Toni, this is going to hurt. I'm going to pull it off on the count of three. Ready, one, two –" Bruce ripped the bandage off on two so that Toni wasn't ready for it.

Toni groaned, "What the hell?"

Bruce dripped antiseptic over the gash which made Toni hiss again. Then, he reapplied the bandage before moving on to the various other open cuts.

"You should get some sleep. You look like you need it," Bruce suggested.

"Thanks, Bruce. Can I have some water first?" Toni asked.

After he gave her some water, Bruce left the room with worry clouding his mind. In her room, Toni cuddled down into the usually uncomfortable blanket that now seemed to have come straight from heaven.

Seconds later, she fell into a much needed deep sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"What the hell, Bruce!" Toni exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. Her face blazed red underneath the synthetic covering of the Tony-bot. Across from Toni, Bruce gazed at the ground.

"Are you going to answer me? This is serious. C'mon, Banner!"

"It's not a big deal," Bruce attempted to placate her.

Toni, however, was having none of it. "If this got out, it would be huge! This could change my life. What were you thinking?" she ranted as she paced from one end of lab to the other.

"Stop being such a drama queen, Toni. It's not going to kill you if anyone knows."

Toni huffed in annoyance. She desperately wanted to get away whether it was deep in the confines of her lab at Stark Towers or soaring through the open air in her Iron Man suit.

"Anything else but this Bruce. Anything else," Toni moaned. "Why did you have to let it slip that I might possible have once occasionally possibly slept with a stuffed animal for a very short period of time in my childhood maybe?"

"Seriously, Toni, it only slipped out because Steve shared an embarrassing story about himself. Barely anyone heard it," Bruce reasoned calmly.

"It doesn't even matter who else heard it. It only matters that this was Steve Rogers, Bruce. _Steve Rogers_," Toni said emphasizing the captain's name.

Bruce tilted his head minutely as he regarded Toni. "Why do you have such a problem with him?"

"He's an arrogant ass that thinks because he lived through the war and all that shit that he's better than the rest of us. And he's the biggest kiss-ass I've ever met."

Bruce shook his head at Toni's skewed logical reasoning. Sometimes, she could be incredibly arrogant herself. She had to be to think that the entire world was against her.

To her credit, it did usually look that way.

In the past week or so, Toni and Bruce had gotten much closer. Mostly they just talked shop and other science related topics. It wasn't like anyone else on the helicarrier could understand even the simplest thing about quantum mechanics.

While they talked a lot of science and trivial facts, it was an unspoken rule to not bring up either one of their pasts or anymore about Toni's alter ego. The day after he found out Toni's secret, Bruce demanded to have a more in-depth conversation.

_A knock sounded on Toni's door, rousing her from her heavenly slumber. She was so tired that she didn't have her usual nightmares, or if she did, she didn't remember them. _

_The young brunette grumbled unintelligibly under her breath as she wrapped the thin blanket tighter around her inert form. _

_"Toni, it's me, Bruce," came the voice from the other side of the door._

_She groaned in annoyance; she really didn't want to finish their conversation from last night. She just wanted to get on with her screwed up life in peace – or what equaled peace in her world._

_Toni stumbled to her feet, dragging the blanket after her. She threw the door open to reveal a clean-shaven Bruce Banner standing on the other side in his standard dark-colored button-up shirt and pants. His glasses were pushed up his nose, and a strand of dark, curly hair fell over his forehead. _

_"What do you want?" Toni asked disgruntled. _

_"We need to clear a few things up."_

_Toni didn't move from the doorway. She really didn't want to have this conversation. Her ribs hurt like a bitch, she was starting to get a headache, and she just wanted to fall back to sleep in her dingy little cot._

_"Go away. There's nothing left to talk about. This doesn't change anything. I'm still the same person."_

_Bruce didn't back down from Toni's harsh glare. "Tell me why I shouldn't let Fury in on your secret."_

_Toni's face hardened, but internally she was cussing herself out for slipping up in front of Bruce last night._

_Toni stepped aside reluctantly. "Look, you better come inside if we're gonna do this." _

_The doctor stepped in the miniscule room. To the left, he noticed the bloody tank top and towel still crumpled in the corner. On the wobbly side table, the first aid kit lay open._

_Neither Bruce nor Toni sat down. Both of them were on their guard and ready for anything that was going to happen. _

_Toni stared Bruce down, her angular features made even harsher in the dim lighting. "You tell anyone, and I will end you. You so much as breathe a word of this out loud and . . ."_

_"And what? What can you do to me? The other guy won't let that happen. Trust me; I've tried. Put a bullet through my brain, and the other guy spit it out." Bruce's face was somber as he looked down on the shorter teenager. His calm demeanor was a fragile covering for his eternally brewing anger; and with each day, more and more cracks appeared._

_Toni was taken aback by this new information. It was horrible to know that someone – a middle-aged man no less – had been at such a low point in his life that he had done more than just think about ending it and had actually tried to kill himself. _

_The billionaire saw Bruce as invincible, as the steadiness amidst a sea of chaos. Toni's life was never simple. She never had that comforting constancy that seemed to tag along with most childhoods. As a child, she was sheltered in her lab with no clue about the real world._

_She discovered tragedy at a young age, not even having hit puberty yet. As a teenager, she was exposed to the worst flaws of the human character possible. She knew what human nature was capable of._

_If someone were to ask Toni now, though, she would say that her childhood was no worse than any other. She may have had a few bumps in the road but nothing too life altering. _

_That presumption was totally wrong. _

_Anyone could see it; it was right under the surface. Her pain was nearly palpable if someone were to actually take the time to look._

_Bruce noticed Toni's thunderstruck expression. She just didn't know what to say. It was true; she couldn't hurt Bruce. It just wasn't possible._

_"Look, I'm not going to tell anyone. I just want to know why. Why don't you just tell people now that your father's gone? It would make things much easier for you," Bruce wondered._

_In truth, Toni had thought about it but had decided not to. If this got out, people would talk. They would ask questions that she didn't necessarily want to answer. _

_"It's just easier this way. No one questions a middle-age guy saving the world. If they knew I was a teenage girl, there would be a ton of moral questions. Besides, no one takes a teenage girl seriously," Toni answered with a shrug._

_Bruce nodded in acceptance._

_"One last thing. 'Toni' seriously? Not very creative. Why not just leave the 'y,' or give you a new name entirely?" Bruce asked with raised eyebrows._

_Toni let a chuckle slip out. "Yeah, blame that one on Howard. I think it was easier for him to remember if the names were the same. I guess it's short for Antonia or something like that, but you ever call me that, and I will make your life a living hell."_

_The doctor raised his hands in mock surrender. "Fine, fine. My lips are sealed."_

_Toni rolled her eyes at the older man's antics. "God, I think I've been rubbing off on you. Next thing I know, you're going to be sassing Fury."_

Things were fairly calm on the Avengers' floating headquarters since then. The imprisoned Loki wasn't putting up too much of a fuss, and the two scientists had no updates on the location of the Tesseract. Thor was visiting his girl, Jane while he had the time. Things were going to get crazy quickly so the god was on call if needed. Agent Romanov was off doing whatever spies normally do in their free time.

Toni had no idea what Rogers was doing, and she couldn't quite bring herself to care. That man could go rot in hell for all she cared.

Bruce noted the way Toni's eyes blazed with thinly disguised fury. He knew that Toni had been through so much at such a young age, but this wasn't healthy. Toni's mind was a steel lockbox that only the most elite of lock pickers could break into, and Bruce didn't have a single lock picking tool.

Toni needed someone who understood her past but wouldn't disregard it. She needed someone to hold her hand when she was down and to see past the façade of cockiness she wore more comfortably than her own skin.

Bruce didn't feel comfortable helping anyone in a way more than purely physical. He could patch up a couple of cuts and bruises, but emotional comfort was most definitely not his forte.

His past was colorful enough as it was.

"I should probably get back to work on this. You need to eat. It's been since last night," Bruce told Toni firmly.

Now that he had brought it up, Toni could feel a twisted knot in the pit of her stomach signaling her need for nourishment. Sometimes, Toni was so into her research that the idea of food seemed to slip her mind.

"Fine, fine. I'll grab something in a minute. I just need to finish this last thing." Toni was engrossed in the holographic screen inches from her face. Her fingers tapped furiously in the air, and Bruce could only guess at what she was searching for.

"Almost there . . . one last thing . . . just . . . let it download . . . and . . . done," Toni muttered under her breath. A smile spread across the fake skin of the Tony-bot as she took in the results.

"Toni," Bruce warned, "What are you doing?"

"You know, the usual. Cat pictures, gamma research, hacking into the mainframe, youtube videos. Nothing too important."

Toni flipped through the screens that popped up in front of her, waiting for Bruce to process what she so flippantly said. Bruce was bent studiously over his research with his curly hair falling in front of his face. A second later, his head flipped up to look at Toni in alarm.

"Wait, what do you mean 'hacking'?" Bruce asked. His voice held a note of barely disguised panic.

Toni cut the doctor a critical look. "Do you honestly believe everything that Fury is feeding you?"

"Why would he lie?"

"Seriously," Toni huffed. For someone so smart he could be really dense sometimes. "Fury is the master spy, the spy that spies on all the other spies. His secrets have secrets. Do you know how many things he could have hidden under that eye patch of his?"

Bruce stood up straight with a heavy sigh. "I'm only here to find the Tesseract. If I knew that SHIELD would leave me alone, I wouldn't even be here. I don't want to get into the politics. I want to find this thing, and go back to peace and quiet."

"Do you really think SHIELD is only using the Tesseract as an energy source? Just because people think you're a mindless beast doesn't mean you have to act like one," Toni may have come off as joking and slightly patronizing, but Bruce could detect the note of seriousness buried underneath.

"What did you – ," Bruce was cut off by the doors of the lab pushing open.

Captain Rogers stepped through the doors, gaining the attention of both scientists. He stood tall and muscular against the dark doors with his blonde hair standing out against his tan skin. He cut a striking figure, but Toni couldn't take him seriously with his skin-tight suit adorned with the good ol' fashioned stars and stripes.

"Making any progress?" Rogers asked. Toni turned her back, using her research as an excuse to ignore the pretentious man. Bruce, however, felt the need to actually engage in conversation.

"We've narrowed down the signature field of the radiation, but we haven't been able to accurately pinpoint it yet. We're in the process of scanning Loki's staff. It's still an unknown entity," Bruce explained.

Rogers nodded as if he could understand anything that Bruce was saying. Toni scoffed under her breath at his cluelessness. All those years on ice hadn't really helped his pop-culture references.

Unknown to Toni, Steve had heard the minute sound of disrespect. At the moment, he decided to ignore it. He really didn't know what Tony's problem was, but Steve really didn't want to get into it here and now.

"That's good."

Toni rolled her eyes again. Disdain practically dripped from her every pore.

"Good? _Good! _That took days to figure out. We've been working on this for hours, using technology that you could never even dream of, nevertheless figure out how to read, and all you can say is '_good'_?" By the end of her rant, Toni was livid.

Bruce noticed Rogers' face hardening as he listened to Toni's tirade, but it didn't appear as if Toni was aware of it.

"What is your problem with me? Have I done something to you, done something to make you hate me? We've never even met before this!" Rogers exploded.

Toni rolled her eyes again. "Maybe you're just an ass."

"Maybe you're just a stuck up, selfish bastard with no regard to others," Rogers shot back. His eyes blazed with fury, and he crowded in on Toni's personal space.

Bruce saw how heated their argument was getting and decided that he should probably step in before they really started going at it. Then again, he didn't want to get himself too riled up trying to calm them down.

"You don't know anything about me," Toni spat at Rogers, unconsciously leaning closer. She looked like she was about to punch him square in the face.

"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that away and what are you?" Rogers said viciously.

Toni leaned back with a smirk. "Stark naked."

At that one, Bruce had to muffle his laughter in his hand. Toni was happy with herself, but this only seemed to enrage the captain further.

"Everything's a joke to you, huh? Can you be serious for at least ten minutes?"

Toni mocked indecision and just to annoy him more said, "Well, I could, but I think I would die of boredom, and the world can_not _go on without me."

Rogers went silent for a minute. He seemed to be contemplating the mystery of a man in front of him before finally saying more calmly, "What would Howard think of you now?"

Fire blazed to life in Toni, blocking out all rational reasoning and thought. Rage consumed her, and she fleetingly wondered if this was what Bruce felt like.

"Don't _ever _bring Howard Stark into this ever again. He wasn't everything you think he was. He had _flaws_, just like you, just like me," Toni vehemently yet very quietly warned.

With that last piece of advice, Toni turned sharply on her heel and stormed out of the lab leaving a bewildered Rogers and a resigned Bruce behind.


End file.
